Continuing input into: The True Bounty Project

General consensus seems to be that The True Bounty Project is an idea that could be made to work....

With some tweaks.

Apparently the numbers that were rolling around in MY head, were too low, generally speaking, to draw the attention of most mercenaries. As such, it was suggested that I put together a few basic bounty packages as guidelines. Obviously, the higher the bounty, the greater the interest. Part of the fun/idea for True Bounty is that a bounty makes you wanted, not just by a specifically hired assassin, but by people who are just willing to do the deed when they see you somewhere they can catch you. A war-dec attack is awesome and all, but it's nothing compared to knowing that a billion isk is sitting on your head for anyone who can catch you in a ship of any real value. A bil, can be split amongst an awful lot of disposable Thrashers and their pilots... Even High-Sec becomes a risk if the value is high enough.

Trust, being the commodity that it is in the great world of EVE, was also an important topic. It was suggested that a third-party, trusted service be used to secure the funds for my third-party project. I have to admit, it seems a bit convoluted. *Grin* But at the same time, I can see the reason behind it. I'm a bit of a nobody, and I can't expect folk to trust me with the kind of money necessary to turn a Merc's head without having been in business for a while to establish a reputation for trustworthiness.

At the same time, I desire to build up the sort of reputation that would be necessary to avoid the unnecessary complication (and the unnecessary divulging of client information) that comes with utilizing a fourth party service (cos that's really what it would be!).

Looking into precedent, I see that people trying to break into the Third Party business usually need to provide some form of incentive to begin their efforts, and that sort of thing makes sense to me, as well.

The pricing thing and standard packages just makes sense. I'll be adjusting that accordingly.

The fourth party service on the other hand is less sure in my mind. I will be giving it some thought, and I'd appreciate some input! Anyone got any ideas on good incentives to get the program up and running, and start building a reputation for honesty? -I- know I'm honest, and that no-one will walk away anything but fairly dealt with, but there's a lot of jerks in EVE.

Until then, Fly Straight (though as was pointed out to me earlier today, angular velocity, or lack thereof, is a killer)

Homehole Advantage

We had several uninvited visitors in 'Our Slice of Heaven' today, and it was nice to be able to settle back into our 'Homehole Advantage'. For instance, our ships, pvp and otherwise, are set up for the anomaly within our wormhole.

Our enemies aren't.

We have already scanned down every signature and can warp, cloaked or otherwise, to wherever our enemies are without deploying scan probes and warning our prey.

Our enemies can't.

We know where our various sites are in relation to each other and know when things will appear on D-Scan and when they won't.

Our enemies don't.
Our POS provides not only a safe haven when not enough corp-mates are online to handle an incoming threat (rare) but also gives us a quick pit-stop in the event a battle doesn't go our way. If our enemies don't catch our pods, they can be sure we'll be back with another ship before they can say 'but-my-armor-repairer-isn't-done-yet-you-tool'.

Homehole Advantage is a wonderful thing to have.

Fly Straight, but not into MY home.

Night before nerves..

In EVE, it's officially clocked over to 01/11/10. I'm an ITer of 2 years. In 14 hours, I'll be forming up a squad of ITer's and our allies and taking them out into the depths of space.

I've read a lot of guides, listened attentively to those with more experience than I, and prepared myself as much as possible. When the time comes, I realize I'm not allowed to express my doubts, or pander to my inexperience. Tonight is my night to express my nerves and to fret about what tomorrow will bring.

My monitor is piling up with sticky notes of important items. My overview has been adjusted countless times and I've familiarized myself with the numerous options available to a fleet-commander in the fleet interface.

So, this is me, signing off on my nerves, frets and worries. Tomorrow, I'm going to wake up and take charge of however small or large a fleet is available to me. Wish me luck tonight, because tomorrow, I won't need it.

Preparation...

A quote about being prepared, 'It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.' by Howard Ruff.

Ejected into my 'work capsule' today, by which I mean the 9x9 box that I work from every week on Thursday and Friday, I have decided (at the wife's brilliant suggestion, no less) to work on being as prepared as I can be for my first FCing gig this upcoming Monday.

Interestingly enough, 01/11/10 will also mark my 2 year anniversary as a member of Imperium Technologies. I'm proud to fly with the [IT] ticker, and wish I could still say I'm from IT without BoB's fame causing people to throw ??'s in my chat.

That said, figuring one weakness I could address while stuck in my Pod and unable to access a REAL computer was ship-recognition, I attacked Google with some glee. What should turn up but this post by a fellow blogger over at k162 Space. He offered the delightful links to a random ship-quiz and a set of helpful flash-cards that I am going to pour some time into today.

Looking for some FCing guides, I found a few nuggets of assistance in the guides section of 00sage00's blog, Yarrbear Tales. Also, the FCing Guide (For pirates) over at EVE Newb was very helpful, though I'll not be applying that information in low-sec as IT does not begin aggressions in Empire space, low-sec or otherwise.

Preparations continue...